Betrayal
by Lady Eivel
Summary: Different character's thoughts at the end of ROTS. Rated T for tragedy and a little violence. WARNING: Contains spoilers for Eps 2&3. COMPLETE!
1. Padme Amidala

Betrayal Part One- Padmé Amidala

He has left me. I put my trust in him, and he betrayed me.

I married him, carried his children, and gave him a part of me others never had. I know now why Obi-Wan and the Council distrusted him- because he was a nine-year-old. A nine-year-old who had experienced war, slavery, greed and violence at a young age could never walk the path of the Jedi without swaying. That was why they distrusted Anakin Skywalker's future. Why they distrusted my husband, who is standing before me.

No. No, this man is not my Ani. Ani would never do a thing like this. He would never turn to the dark side. He would never kill those whose ranks he was proud to be among. Even though pride was not allowed in the Order. He felt it. And other feelings too. And his feelings have betrayed him. Turned him into a monster. I know this because my Ani- the man I loved dearer than anyone else- could never have killed so many beings.

Could he?

"The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me." I hear him say. I give him the only thing that comes to my parched lips.

"Anakin, you've broken my heart!" And it is true. He has shattered it into a thousand fragments. I never thought that could happen to me - a senator and queen. A mother and wife.

When I was queen, Ani was nine. He helped free Naboo from the Trade Federation. It wasn't only him, though he did destroy the battleship which controlled the droids. Two Jedi were there- Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. I remember Qui-Gon's cremation. I heard Ani ask Obi-Wan "What will happen to me now?"

What would happen? He would grow up to be a killer. He killed the Tuskens first. Then all those Geonosians, droids and Separatists. All dead thanks to his rage. Who is next I wonder. I look up at Anakin and his eyes tell me the answer.

My own eyes are not deceived. He raises his hand- the mechanical one that touched my shoulder when we were married- and I suddenly cannot breathe. That is no Jedi trick. Jedi do not kill. My Ani, who fought so hard for the freedom of the Republic, has been conquered by the dark side. As my vision fades and I gasp for breath, he thrusts the hand forward and I am flung back. My head hits something and everything goes black.

The stark, sterility of the Medi-lab is a sharp contrast to the warm, reassuring look of Obi-wan Kenobi who is leaning over me, his soft hand stroking my hair – seeing me wake he touches my shoulder and leanes downs to whisper in my ear.

"Padme…be still, you are safe."

There's something different about him. His sensitivity seems misplaced, but wholly appropriate as I look up at him. His warm features look down at me. The features which have not lost their warmth. But I can see the hurt of some unknown knowledge. His eyes have lost their confidence. The scars of some unknown battle have touched him deeper than any other wound ever could. It's like his years of being a Jedi weigh heavily on him, burden him in a time of need. But what need could that be? Then I remember…

"Ani…"

"Anakin…" he choked, his eyes quivering with tears I never saw before- even when Qui-Gon was killed "Is gone…"

The reality hit me like a hard lump of stone; my world suddenly falling down around me. I felt light headed and sick. "How…how can that be?" I ask, even though I don't want the answer.

"He fell into a volcano and was killed. His body and the darkness in him survived- but only just. He is more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

I shake my head, though it takes a great deal of effort. "I… can't…"

I can't go on. Anakin is dead. A creature called Darth Vader fills what is left of his body. The pain grows again and I let out a sharp cry- a cry that is from more than the mere pain of childbirth. Obi-Wan takes my hand - the one not holding the japor snippet.

"Save your energy." Obi-Wan wants me to live. "Too many have died these last few weeks. Including Ani…"

No. Ani is alive. I know it in the remains of my heart. He is there - buried under machines and darkness. It is getting hard to breathe.

"Obi-Wan… there is… good in him still… I know it…" I gasp. The effort needed for even this makes me feel weak. Weaker than I am already.

I pretended to be strong. I pretended I could weather anything the war threw at me. I raised my barriers to prove it. And they withstood everything except this.

"What is good is locked within the hate that has filled him." Obi-wan states simply "Anakin Skywalker is dead." he continues. "In that, I have no doubt."

A seething void of emotion and anger boiled inside me at his words. A moment ago he seemed ready to cry, and now how could he be so…cold? Then I reminded myself he was a Jedi. '_And Jedi aren't allowed to cry,_ I bitterly remind myself. '_But they aren't allowed to love either,' _Says another voice inside my head._ 'And my Jedi did._

"There is something else…" his tone grim, I felt terror grip me.

"Yes?"

"Padme, you are having twins." It must have taken a great effort for him to tell me.

In that moment I thought my world had ended, but something dramatic happened in me right then. I reflexively move my hands to my stomach, cradling it, the spark of life inside of me releasing all the weight and pain of the last weeks. Then I remember who was the father, the only person it could be…could ever have been.

And terror crushes me.


	2. Anakin Skywalker

Betrayal Part Two- Anakin Skywalker

They betrayed me. They have all betrayed me- Obi-Wan, Padmé, the Jedi… I hate them!

No. I can't hate Padmé. I can't hate the woman I have loved since that day she walked into Watto's shop and into my life. By the suns, I thought she was an angel. She sure looked like one. And her laugh… well, I can only now describe it as the sound of softly falling rain- something I had not experienced. Water. Sith, I need it now.

Again, I reprimand myself. How can water put out lava? How can water heal all these wounds the last few weeks have inflicted upon me? I have been hurt both physically and mentally. Padmé has abandoned me. Obi-Wan has betrayed me, along with the rest of those hideous Jedi.

It gave me such pleasure to kill them. Some went easily, some put up a fight. I even came close to admiring that little freak of nature padawan Iseila. She wouldn't let me end the youngling's misery easily and challenged me. She was actually quite good with a lightsaber- but not good enough. I think she realized that. The little wretch- she had the cheek to say I wouldn't get away with it! Oh, it was fun to kill her, to watch her red eyes widen in pain as I ran my lightsaber right through her stomach. Well, she had been annoying.

I suppose Obi-Wan saw her die on Security holotape when he managed to get back in the temple with Yoda. Well, I don't really care. It's his fault anyway. He held me back, didn't let me use my powers to the best of my ability and this is the result. He can see how good I am- I can even kill those other pathetic masters!

Shaak Ti, Mace Windu, Iseila, they all died because of Obi-Wan. Others died too. The younglings… my mother.

Oh Mom, I miss you so much. Out of all the deaths Obi-Wan has caused, yours was the worst. Obi-Wan said my dreams about you were just, well, dreams. And because of that, you died.

Obi-Wan. I have killed all the other Jedi, Obi-Wan. And I am going to kill you. Slowly. So your pain can be as great as mine is now.


	3. ObiWan Kenobi

Betrayal

I stand on the Tatooinian rock outside the small hut I now have to call 'home'. Over in the East, the second sun is setting, bathing everything on a deep orange. It is the only claim the planet has to natural beauty. I sigh. With the Clone Wars taking up every second of my time recently, I have seen so little beauty.

The clones. I remember them well- soldiers commissioned by a mysterious person for the Republic. I remember seeing the embryos on Kamino, their identical peers in the classrooms, eating hall and training area. I remember Cody, my friend and companion. The man I had to kill.

I keep telling myself it wasn't my fault- Palpatine ordered the clones to kill the Jedi- but somehow, it never worked. I feel I betrayed Cody just as Anakin had betrayed me. And Padmé.

Poor Padmé. Living a lie. Marrying a Jedi Knight. A Jedi who had chocked her and flung her against a wall in his rage. A Jedi I trained. But she had still loved him. It was heartbreaking to watch her die, an assumed widow and mother-of-two. It was just as heartbreaking to tell her Anakin had been killed.

Anakin. I don't know whether I have betrayed Anakin or Anakin has betrayed me, like he betrayed so many others. Family. Friends. Friends like Iseila.

Iseila Palon and my apprentice were very close, despite the large age gap. She had been a great comfort to Anakin after his mother Shmi had died. She was ten years younger than Anakin, but her red albino eyes saw too much in her short life. At the mere age of eleven, she had cradled her dying mistress in her arms on Geonosis. Perhaps that was why she had been so careful with life. Why she had given her own 14-year-old life to save the younglings from Anakin. When I was at the temple that fateful day, I saw Anakin cutting her down as she stood between the younglings and my apprentice. My apprentice who had destroyed all he had once stood for and more.

Anakin _had _loved Padmé- enough to risk expulsion from the Order to marry her. I silently curse myself. Why didn't I tell anyone about the love that had blossomed between the two of them? Perhaps I had thought the council would be able to guess and work it out for themselves. After all, the clues had been obvious- the fleeting glances, the teasing words from Anakin. It had been almost as obvious as the lies Palpatine had been feeding into him.

Palpatine. If Jedi were allowed to hate, I would hate the new 'Emperor' more than anything. Thanks to Palpatine, the galaxy is now in uproar. Thanks to Palpatine, millions of beings- civilians and Jedi alike- are dead. Thanks to Palpatine, Anakin was dead. Thanks to Palpatine, a black monster is hunting down all that remains of the Jedi Order. A black monster that was Anakin Skywalker, once upon a time.

I shake my head. Vader cannot be Anakin. Vader was the exact opposite of my funny, cocky young apprentice who had been a Galaxy hero. The apprentice who broke almost every rule in the Jedi book by marrying Padmé and becoming a father.

A father. The son was the reason why I am here. And one day, the son will kill the father (not father, _monster_) and bring peace and order back to the Galaxy. Luke meant light. It is a good name for him. I shut my eyes. At least there is hope.

That reminds me of Padmé too. In her last moments, I talked to Padmé, trying to keep her alive by reassurance. What did I say again? It seems like an aeon ago, although it, in reality, has only been a week.

"There is always hope." That was what I said. And she had replied- even though it had been an immense effort for her.

"I gave all my hope to others. I kept none for myself."

I knew who the 'others' were. Me and Anakin, my padawan in particular. He had been in love with her since he was nine. When she had died, I had felt a scream rip through the Force. The voice had been alien, unrecognisable and yet eerily familiar. I later found it had been Anakin, or Vader as he is now called. New names for master and apprentice. Vader and Ben- for Ben is what I shall be called now. With another sigh, I force my tired feet to carry me indoors.

_20 years later._

Kenobi and Vader duelled fiercely. An old man against a black monster. Obi-Wan was reminded of an ancient legend- a maze full of death guarded by a half-man, half monster, an evil creature who was slain by a young man. The maze was the Death Star. The creature was Vader. The young man was Luke. Obi-Wan wondered who he was.

They continued to duel.

Soon, they were in the hangar. Out of the corner of his eye, Kenobi saw stormtroopers rushing to them. He didn't care about them. He only cared about the three figures making a dash for the _Millennium Falcon_. It took a moment to realise what he had to do.

He looked Vader squarely in the face for the last time, then shut his eyes and raised his lightsaber. The last thing he heard was an anguished "NOOOOOOOO!" before the Force claimed him.

There was another character in the legend of the maze. An old man sacrificed his life so that the young man could fulfil his destiny. Obi-Wan Kenobi was the old man.


End file.
